Another 4foot upgrade

The last tier4 will be the highest, but yes you have it correct, I'm sure I will run into some problem with the edges but that is part of the fun. Do you want a pic of the hillie or the tank, the later is going to take some time as I don't have the tank yet, will only get it the weekend or later, seller is busy with exams, so I want him to focus on that first, very important. What software did you use to draw that?

 

I used Google Sketchup. Very easy.

I want to see a pic of the Hillie. Want to ID it.

 

It was sold at the LFS as a butterfly pleco, but here is the thread where we discussed it, he changes colours form very light to almost black depending on the substrate, you can see the colouring better when he is dark in colour, will try and get some updated pics tomorrow, my son is having his preschool concert 2night, so no time for pictures.

http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?13857-Butterfly-Pleco

 

Yeah all Hillstream loaches comes under a few standard names. When you have time, can you post a pic of when he is darker?

 

Took a pic of him this morning, one on PFS and one on the glass, see the diff in colour.

 

Could be Pseudogastromyzon myersi but I could be wrong. How does the fin look when erect?

 

I have never even thought of the fin to be honest, but as you can see it does have a yellow colour to it, but I haven't seen any red on the edges, I will keep an eye on it and will post a pic if I can, got a new camera yesterday as my old one (9years old) broke, so now I can take some better quality pics.

 

Was able to take a closeup picture and you can see the red on the edges of the fin, have to look closely though, I waited 1 hour for him to sit on that rock.

 

Nice pics .. do you have a full tank shot?

 

Here is the pic of my current 2foot tank, going to pickup the 4foot stuff on saturday, first need to get my trailer from a freinds house tomorrow.



New growth of the repens after trimming 2 weeks ago.

 

Nice.

It's very had to ID that one. It's either P.myseri or P.cheni. Either way, awesome fish. I'm jealous.

 

Hehe from a 2ft to a 4ft ... you going to have so much space. BTW for allot of those plants you do not need to go with an aqua soil of sorts, silica will do just fine. Add some nails and look for a few root tabs if you want to see them grow like crazy.

 

So far teh PFS has been doing fine, with a 10hour light and CO2 exposure every day it should be fine, Saturdays are lights off for the fishtank. I have some family tahts coming to visit and told them there cover charge is a couple of old mopani branches or roots, the more the better. Below is the pic of the tank, I'm feel like a small boy before xmas day.

 

I leaning towards the myseri as the Cheni has a funny round colour around the anus area, I still need to measure the distance between the anal,fins and head in order to make 100% sure, currently he/she is 3cm, so hopefully has it grows it will colour up even better. The freaken Skuck Loach and himself sometime chase each other around the tank, but nothing serious, my snails is almost gone since getting the S.Loach, sometimes it dig half it body under the PFS to find what it wants. Love the Skuck but hate the fact that is chances my Hilly around sometimes.

In the 4foot these encounters will be limited due to increase in volume and hiding space.

Just a nice picture of my Congos

 

LOL the TLA PFS, WTF. OMG; silica

I love TLAs, but PFS got me. After some contemplation:

Laughing Out Loud the Three Letter Acronym Pump Filter Sand, What The Freak. Oh My Goodness; silica was my light bulb moment for the day.

The concept of a lights off day .. (hmm need to ponder that a bit more)

Keep us posted.

Later Ferdie

 

OK, after spending 2hours getting all the stuff in my car and trailer, losing the trailer lid twice on the highway (very scary), spending 12 hours cleaning it, eveything is up and running.

MY HELPER


ADDING AND REMOVING WATER


LIGHTS AND AIRSTONES RUNNING

MORE PICS FROM TODAY LTR

 

I was to lazy to cary 50KG's of PFS so I was sold this at Mica as this is apparently its better than PFS, anyone else using this.

 

Big chunks of zeolite ... Open cell foam - Page 2

I have never tried it as a substrate ...

 

The water cleared up nicely and the fish seem to enjoy the space. My biggest concern right now is the lights and the amount of heat it generates, the light are on from 7am till 5PM and when I get back i find the black neons close to the surface and air injection. When I get home the temps are 27-28C!!!! Way to high for what I want, in the mornings it is 25, the heater is set at 23C and have never seen it on except for the first day.

Now I have 4*39W (T5) DyMax lights, don't ask me their (k) rating as I don't know. Any idea how I can change the light to something that has less heat maybe T8's. picture below.

 

Looks like you only have 2 tubes in there at the moment. Reduce your lighting period to maybe an hr in the morning and then on again in the evening when you are home. Also look at cutting the back of your canopy open for ventilation or a cooling fan and maybe increase your airation/surface agitation.

My lights run from 06h00-08h00 and again from 17h45-23h00 and I have just upgraded from 65w of T8's (6500k) to 108w of T5's (10000k & 8000k) and the lights are frikkin hot. I have not completed my canopy yet so they are suspended about 150mm above the tank and I have not had a heat issue yet but I'm also expecting a problem.